Unwavering Defenders ©
Reverend Janet Parsons
Gloucester UU Church
October 4, 2026
In a final essay published after her death just last month, activist and author Gloria Steinem said this, “Eventually, after covering lots of territory and many issues, I realized I had become an itinerant organizer. It’s an unlikely profession, but really it is quite simple. Organizers observe the world, see what it could be, and help make it real.” (Gloria Steinem’s Final Essay, in The New Yorker, September 3, 2026.)
To ‘see what the world could be, and help make it real.’
Billy Frank. John Muir. Gloria Steinem. We’ve been talking about three very different people across time and circumstances. We begin this morning by asking an obvious question: what do these three people have in common?
Earlier we heard the story of a 14-year-old boy arrested while fishing on the bank of a river. Then we heard the joyful, lyrical words of an early naturalist who was consumed by curiosity, and so fascinated by everything he saw that he devoted his life to preserving it. Just now we highlighted a principled woman who began to travel widely following college, and discovered the great breadth and diversity of humanity, and never forgot it. Three people who saw what the world could be, and helped bring that vision to life.
This morning we are beginning an exploration of our October theme of Courage. There are many kinds of courage: there is physical courage, which the naturalist John Muir exhibited throughout his life. Some of his exploits made him sound like Superman. Then there’s heroic courage, exhibited by people who will race into a burning building to save a life, who turn the tide of a battle in war, who are willing to take life-threatening risks that probably surprise even themselves.
We tend to compare ourselves to people with those types of courage: the man who was not afraid to explore glaciers and mountains completely alone, or the firefighters of September 11. And of course, when we compare ourselves to them, we inevitably feel that we fall short, and that we cannot think of ourselves as courageous.
But there are other types of courage as well. Let’s pause to think of a single parent, especially a low income single parent, who has to get up every single day and hold a life together for a child. That takes a particular kind of courage: a determination to be steadfast, to carry on. We think of people who find they are facing another recurrence of an illness, and choose to once again seek harsh treatment in the hopes of – this time, maybe – a cure. Do we think of that as courage? We should. And virtually everyone exhibits that type of courage at one time or another; that determination to not give up, to stay the course.
But today, we are considering the kind of courage that is observed in a lifelong pursuit: a struggle over many years, through hardship, to right a wrong; to preserve and protect people or forests or animals who have no one to defend them; to seek justice for all those who are oppressed, marginalized, and ignored by people in power. We are here to honor those I call the defenders. The three people whose stories we are hearing are defenders – only three chosen from many people all over the world – because they were unwavering, steadfast, and as Gloria Steinem wrote, ‘saw what the world could be and helped make it real.’ They were all defenders, and also founders, and they forged a new and unique path based on their resolve and passion.
Our poet, Lucille Clifton, asked us, “won’t you celebrate with me
what I have shaped into
a kind of life?…
what did I see to be except myself?”
John Muir emigrated to the United States from Scotland at the age of eleven with his family. His father was a harsh and rigid Calvinist who believed that the only book necessary to learn from was the Bible. To establish a thriving farm in Wisconsin, John and his siblings worked from dawn to dusk, but somehow John found the energy and desire to study independently until he was able to leave and attend college for a time at the age of 22. He became increasingly mystical and saw the universe as filled with light. (taken from John Philip Newell, Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul). It was a powerful combination: a body made hard and fit and skilled through work, with a soul capable of joy and a sense of the divine present in all things. John Muir saw the land as sacred, something to be preserved in its wild state. This eventually led him to champion the creation of, first, Yosemite National Park, and then to a relationship with President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1903 Muir took Roosevelt on a camping trip in Yosemite, and convinced the president of the need to preserve our natural wonders. Muir is often called the Father of the National Parks.
A defender: against exploiting the land for grazing and lumber, and as time went on, a founder of the modern conservation movement through the national parks and the creation of the Sierra Club.
Billy Frank, whose story I shared earlier, also began as a defender of his own tribal rights. The State of Washington interpreted the treaty giving fishing rights to the Nisqually and other native people as only applying to the reservations. But the native Americans had historically had much more extensive use of the land and waters, and were determined to not give in. The reservations were too small to support them, and as the stock of fish declined due to development and the loss of habitat in the 20th century, more and more tribal people were living in poverty. Billy Frank left school after the 9th grade.
During the Fish Wars, native people would gather at traditional fishing locations and begin fishing from canoes. One eyewitness account tells of game wardens arriving in their own power boats, and ramming the canoes. Fishing gear was confiscated.
Billy Frank’s involvement did not end with the court decision restoring tribal rights. The Nisqually and other tribes were given the right to one half of the harvestable salmon returning to Washington rivers. Billy became the head of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, which was created to work together with the state fisheries managers. Now that he was no longer finding himself frequently locked up in jail, Billy proved to be a strong collaborator. Over time, as the population of salmon dwindled he turned his attention to environmental concerns, to preserving habitat and maintaining water quality to support the stock of fish. As people said, 50% of nothing is nothing.
Once again, a defender, unwavering, of the rights of his people, and ultimately a founder for the future; a participant in new-found political power and agency for the indigenous peoples of Washington state.
Gloria Steinem also had an early life filled with challenges, with a father who was often absent, a mother who suffered from frequent bouts of depression and other mental illness, interrupted schooling, and in later childhood, a period of living with an older sister. Unlike John Muir and Billy Frank, Gloria had access to higher education, and then academic fellowships, including a fellowship in India that unlocked all of her understanding of people and of our common humanity across continents and race and religions. In her final essay, Gloria noted that her feminism emerged from that time in India; her belief that all people should be socially, economically, and politically equal. From that foundational understanding, that North Star, she never wavered, but worked for equality throughout her long life, dying last month at the age of 92. Perhaps, she wrote in her final essay, the equality she fought for should just be called ‘humanism’. “Regardless of what we call it,” she continued, “it just means treating each of us as uniquely human. The experiences of race and gender and class are very real and important, but they are also constructed and changeable. Our humanity is consistent and sacred.”
For beliefs such as these, and the actions she took to foster equality, she was vilified. I well remember the derisive comments about her, about “Women’s Lib”, always said in a tone of disgust. It can be a hard road, following your beliefs, that call from deep within that sets you on a path very separate from the mainstream, the courage needed to stay the course. Our poem this morning expresses how this daily onslaught must have felt:
“come celebrate
with me that everyday
something has tried to kill me
and has failed.”
Gloria Steinem was also a founder, always more than an activist: she helped to create a famous magazine (Ms.), the National Women’s Political Caucus, the Women’s Media Center, and even Take Our Daughters to Work Day.
Three courageous survivors. Three lifelong defenders, who became founders, who saw opportunities to create and foster change, to leave the world a better place than they found it. This is a particular type of courage; the courage of the long haul, the courage that emerged from commitment and passion.
May we all remember their example, not to compare ourselves to them and be found wanting, but to remind ourselves to have faith in ourselves and in our own ability to maintain our steadfast courage when the times call upon us.
“what did I see to be except myself?”
